The stunning story of Russia's slide back into a dictatorship - and how the West is now paying the price for allowing it to happen.

A groundbreaking book that explains how the world's history of empires still shapes our lives and politics today

The extraordinary story of the German foreign ministry official who, at risk to his life, spied for the Allies in the Second World War.

A captivating portrait of contemporary New York City, the most linguistically diverse place ever to have existed on the planet, told through six speakers of little-known and overlooked languages.

A witty and engaging beginner's guide to the Classics, by the author of Veni, Vidi, Vici and Eureka!

'Much more than a portrait of a Congolese herd boy who becomes an important military man, it is a portrait of a vast and chaotic country in a state of near-anarchy. I have long admired Lieve Joris's African books, but this one is both powerful and timely, intensely imagined.' Paul Theroux

Award-winning Steven Strogatz, one of the foremost popularisers of maths, has written a witty and fascinating account of maths' most compelling ideas and how, so often, they are an integral part of everyday life.

The 500-year story of how, and why, our homes have come to be what they are, from the bestselling author of The Victorian City and The Victorian House.

A sweeping history of the Age of Reason, which shows how, although it was a time of progress in many areas, it was also an era of brutality and intolerance, by the author of The Borgias and The Florentines.

The fascinating story of the Venetian who helped to map the World during the Renaissance, by the author of A Venetian Affair and Autumn in Venice.